SILENCE THERAPEUTICS PLC: Directorate Change

Silence Therapeutics Announces Board Changes

Appoints Annette Clancy and Jerry Randall as non-executive directors

London, UK, 1 July 2008 - Silence Therapeutics plc (London AIM: SLN) ('the
Company') today announced changes to its Board of Directors as part of the
company's plan for growth.

Effective today, Silence has appointed Annette Clancy and Jerry Randall as
non-executive directors and Iain Rugheimer has resigned as a director of the
Company.

Annette Clancy is joining the Board in her first non-executive director role.
Ms. Clancy (53) is currently with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where she has had a
distinguished career spanning 30 years, and will be leaving GSK at the end of
the year. She has 15 years experience in Business Development, leading GSK's
global Transactions and Alliance Management teams for the past 3 years, and
during her tenure she and her team have been responsible for concluding a large
number of research, development and commercial business collaborations on
behalf of GSK. Prior to her role in Business Development, Ms. Clancy held a
number of positions in Clinical Research, R&D project management and
Commercialization. Ms. Clancy has a BSc (Hons) Pharmacology from Bath
University.

Jerry Randall has been Chief Financial Officer of Sinclair Pharmaceuticals plc
since 2000 when he joined as part of a management buy-in team. Prior to this,
Mr. Randall worked in corporate finance with Gambit Corporate Finance.
Previously, Mr. Randall had been involved in two other buy-ins and acted as
adviser to both private and quoted companies between 1993 and 2000, in both the
capacity as nominated adviser and in practice with KPMG. During this period,
Mr. Randall (43) was involved in a number of flotations and transactions on the
Official List, Unlisted Securities Market and the Alternative Investment
Market, as well as raising private equity. Mr. Randall qualified as a chartered
accountant with KPMG in 1990. Mr. Randall has a beneficial interest in 10,000
ordinary shares of Silence Therapeutics plc.

Iain Rugheimer has been on the Board of Silence Therapeutics plc (formerly SR
Pharma plc) since 1995, was briefly Chairman of the Group in 2004, and has been
Chairman of the Audit Committee for a number of years.

Commenting on the changes, Iain Ross, Chairman, Board of Directors of Silence
Therapeutics, commented, "I would like to thank Iain Rugheimer for his
contribution over the years and especially for his personal support and advice
over the last four years as we have sought to transform the Company. He will be
missed and, on behalf of the Board, I wish him every success in the future. I
am delighted to take this opportunity to welcome Annette Clancy and Jerry
Randall to the Board. Both of them bring a wealth of experience and contacts in
the industry and with the Company at such an exciting stage of its development,
I am pleased that we have been able to attract two such talented individuals."

                                   - Ends -                                    

Information concerning the new directors:

Annette Clancy

No current or past directorships.

Jeremy Anthony PhilipRandall

Current Directorships:

Sinclair Pharma plc

Kinneir Dufort Limited

Avantis (UK) Ltd

Maggiore Ventures Limited

Operation Smile (UK) Limited

Past Directorships:

Pharmadiligence Limited

Crisp Group Limited

There are no other matters to report under schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules in
respect of either director.

Enquiries:

For further information, please contact the following:

Silence Therapeutics plc                    European Contacts:                 
                                                                               
[phone]                          Citigate Dewe Rogerson             
                                                                               
Jeff Vick, Chief Executive Officer          [phone]                 
                                                                               
Melvyn Davies, Finance Director             David Dible                        
                                                                               
                                            Heather Keohane                    
                                                                               
Nominated Advisers:                         U.S. Contacts:                     
                                                                               
Nomura Code Securities Limited              LaVoie Group                       
                                                                               
[phone]                          +1 - 978.745.4200                  
                                                                               
Chris Collins                               Bryan Murphy x 105                 
                                                                               
Gerard Harper                               Tim Allison x 102                  

Notes to Editors:

About Silence Therapeutics plc (www.silence-therapeutics.com)

Silence Therapeutics plc (AIM: SLN) is a leading European RNAi focused
biotechnology company. RNAi can selectively 'silence' genes linked to the onset
of disease. RNAi is a Nobel Prize winning technology and one of the most
promising areas of drug discovery and development today.

Silence Therapeutics has developed a platform of novel short interfering RNA
('siRNA') molecules, AtuRNAi, which provide a number of advantages over
conventional siRNA molecules, including increased stability against nuclease
degradation. In addition, the Company has developed a proprietary systemic
delivery system, AtuPLEX. This system enables the functional delivery of siRNA
molecules to targeted diseased tissues and cells, while increasing their
bioavailability and intracellular uptake.

Silence's lead internal product, Atu027, is a proprietary AtuRNAi molecule in
preclinical development for systemic cancer indications. Atu027 has
successfully completed single and repeat dose toxicology and geno-toxicology
studies, as well as a 28-day toxicology study using multiple dosing regimens.
Silence plans a regulatory filing in 2008 to commence clinical trials for
Atu027.

In March 2008, Silence Therapeutics announced a collaboration with AstraZeneca
(LSE: AZN) focused on the development of a range of novel delivery approaches
for siRNA molecules. Under the terms of the agreement both Silence Therapeutics
and AstraZeneca will be allowed to commercialize the truly novel delivery
systems that the two partners develop together.

In July 2007, Silence Therapeutics formed its first research and development
collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop novel AtuRNAi therapeutics against
five specific targets, including those in respiratory indications. This
collaboration was the first industry validation of the potential application of
Silence Therapeutics' proprietary AtuRNAi molecules and solidified the
Company's leadership position in field of RNAi therapeutics.

The Company's AtuRNAi technology also has been sublicensed to Pfizer via
Quark's license to them of the compound RTP-801i-14 for the treatment of
age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and a number of other indications. This
compound entered the clinic in early 2007. Silence Therapeutics also has
licensed to Quark rights to the AtuRNAi structure for Quark's proprietary
compound, AKIi-5, which is in a Phase I human clinical study for treatment of
acute kidney injury.

Silence Therapeutics is based in London, UK, and Berlin, Germany, and is listed
on AIM.

About RNAi

RNA interference (RNAi), is a Nobel Prize winning technology and one of the
most exciting areas of drug discovery today. It represents a completely new
approach to selectively 'silence' or inactivate disease relevant genes and as
such it has the potential to create a new class of therapeutic products. RNAi
could therefore offer a therapeutic approach to a broad range of diseases
(cancer, infectious diseases, inherited diseases), many of which have been
regarded as incurable and are not addressed by current therapeutics, therefore
providing a large market opportunity.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to
risks, uncertainties and other factors. These risks and uncertainties could
cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the
forward-looking statements. All forward--looking statements are based on
information currently available to Silence Therapeutics and Silence
Therapeutics assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking
statements.




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